Pressure on Connor McDavid to swing Edmonton Oilers’ fortunes

When he stepped up to the plate at Marlins Park on Wednesday, as usual, all eyes were on Connor McDavid. He didn’t play baseball in his youth — he was too busy perfecting his game on the ice — so the stage was not one the 18-year-old hockey wunderkind was all that comfortable with.

MIAMI – When he stepped up to the plate at Marlins Park on Wednesday, as usual, all eyes were on Connor McDavid.

He didn’t play baseball in his youth — he was too busy perfecting his game on the ice — so the stage was not one the 18-year-old hockey wunderkind was all that comfortable with.

But when the National Hockey League took six of its top prospects for batting practice prior to the Miami Marlins-St. Louis Cardinals game, McDavid embraced it as another experience he didn’t want to miss.

“You only go through this process once, so I’ve just been trying to enjoy myself. Heading into the draft, you’re heading into a good time of your life … You don’t want to rush through this,” he said, after taking a few swings.

There have been many new, heady experiences for McDavid, who will officially become part of the Edmonton Oilers fold on Friday when he is selected first in the National Hockey League entry draft in Sunrise, Fla. The 18-year-old has been described as a “generational” talent, and there is plenty of pressure on him to make an immediate impact on a team that is desperate to taste success.

The hoopla makes McDavid’s father uneasy.

“We worry that the expectations being heaped on Connor are unrealistic,” Brian McDavid told the Washington Post in an email. “Having said that, Connor is able to manage this because the expectations he has of himself exceed those of the media and public.”

“While the ride has been mostly otherworldly, there have been lots of moments along the way when you wonder, ‘Is it really all worth it?’ ” he wrote. “We satisfied ourselves to the extent possible, comforting ourselves, secure in the knowledge he was pursuing his dream. That was likely the most difficult thing we have ever had to do.”

After Connor McDavid finished his season with the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League, he headed to the NHL combine. When that wrapped up he was off to Chicago with a few other prospects to take in a game during the Stanley Cup final.

Last weekend, he and his parents Brian and Kelly, were in Edmonton to tour the city and the old rink, as well as the as the site of the new downtown arena, then it was on to Florida.

McDavid, Jack Eichel — destined for the Buffalo Sabres as the obvious No. 2 pick — Noah Hanifin, Dylan Strome, Mitch Marner, and Lawson Crouse were the prospects who took part in the visit to the ballpark, which has become a draft tradition.

McDavid is clearly better at deftly passing a one-timer through traffic as a centre than he is at cranking out line drives as a batter.

Crouse, who did play baseball, hit one out of the park.

McDavid and Eichel threw out the opening pitch, and took in the game with their parents.

On Thursday, the group took part in a hockey clinic before a tour of the Everglades.

“It’s a stressful weekend for us. This is where we all want to be, we’re all curious, asking questions, but it is the time where everyone is wondering where they’ll end up,” said Crouse, a power forward with the Kingston Frontenacs. “Obviously, to do stuff like this, to keep our mind off it, is good. We’re all enjoying it.”.

The Oilers will go into this draft with 10 selections, none of which will be more valuable than McDavid.

While there have been no proclamations about their selection of the 18-year-old, general manager Peter Chiarelli said the other day that players like McDavid only “come around once in a while.”

McDavid, meanwhile, said it was good to get into Edmonton, to have a quick look around but like Chiarelli, he wasn’t making proclamations. He still speaks in terms of “if” he goes to Edmonton.

“It was cool to see the city, see the new plans for the rink,” he said. “I got a feel for the new rink, and the old rink and saw the history and all that.

“It looks like it might be Edmonton but I don’t really know. I’m just looking forward to the draft on Friday. It’s once in a lifetime.”

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